Kindling Hope by Watching Our Thoughts

New research illuminates the relationship between metacognition and hope.

Reviewed by Devon Frye

Key points

• Longitudinal research suggests a relationship between metacognitive awareness and hope.
• Students who were more aware of their biases and perceptions had a greater sense of self-efficacy and hope.
• Strong metacognitive awareness may lead to more realistic expectations of self and increased hope.

Hope is a powerful—yet sometimes elusive—psychological force that we rely on in times of sadness and despair.

Some people seem to have an easier time hanging onto hope. We can likely all think of people in our lives who can readily find the silver lining, and who are able to persevere when others cannot. The psychological literature refers to this quality as dispositional hope and identifies many individual differences across groups of people.

What drives these differences? Can a greater sense of hope be intentionally cultivated?

New Research on Metacognition and Hope

A new longitudinal study of undergraduate students at Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, Poland suggests a relationship between metacognition—awareness of one’s own thoughts, perceptions, and biases—and the development of hope and self-efficacy. Pawel Kleka and colleagues refer to self-efficacy, which was originally studied by Albert Bandura in the 1970s, as “an individual’s belief in their ability to control actions, motivation, and thoughts, as well as to effectively pursue intended goals.” Simply put, we feel more efficacious when we feel that we can make meaningful, positive changes in our lives.

In the study, more than 250 students were tested five times for three years. At each test, the participants responded to questions about their “metacognitive self-awareness,” which related to an awareness of their own biases, along with measures of their self-efficacy and perceptions of how able they are to pursue and achieve their goals in different contexts.

Analyses of the responses suggested that greater awareness of one’s thoughts and biases could bolster the development of self-efficacy and hopefulness. In particular, a certain level of metacognitive self-awareness was needed to increase hope; low levels could actually decrease hope over time. One possible implication of this finding is that hope may only be stoked in individuals who face challenging life circumstances when their metacognitive awareness is high.

Metacognitive self-awareness could play a role in whether students harbored realistic or unrealistic expectations of themselves when facing a hurdle, which can influence hope by way of self-perception. Early on in the longitudinal study, students’ levels of hope were not significantly different between those with high and low metacognitive self-awareness, but over time, the difference increased. Perhaps with greater awareness of one’s thoughts and biases, students are able to temper their expectations of themselves, thus avoiding intense discouragement when falling short of a goal.

Considering Metacognition and Self-Awareness

These findings shed light on the interconnected nature of our ability to watch our thoughts and the valence of our outlook on life. Our judgments and biases of ourselves, others, and the surrounding world can have a strong influence on our self-efficacy. When we can acknowledge the strengths and pitfalls in our patterns of thought, we may be more likely to create a psychological environment that allows hope to bloom and grow.